So when preparing for the Great Urban Race in Tampa on March 6th, Tyler and I stumbled upon someone's blog giving a list of all the clues and answers as well as photos used. We found it very helpful in trying to understand what we might encounter, so I wanted to return the favor to future GUR teams!
Our team name was Pants On The Ground, which got us a #4 in the Stand-out Team Names list!
Strategy:We took a laptop because the bar where the race starts (Gaspar's Grotto) had wireless internet. We received the clues at about 12pm and worked on answering them between using the laptop, calling a friend who was online helping, and calling local knowledge peeps. Once we solved the clues and planned out our route we hit the streets and ran really FAST. Not being familiar with Tampa we had a disadvantage in solving some of the clues, it took us almost 40 minutes to hit the streets. But once out there we figured we averaged about a 7:45 min/mile giving us a 20th place finish = qualified for Nationals!
Order in which we did the clues:Part of 10, 7, 3, Part of 10, 4, 1, 1st part of 12, 2, 8, 6, 9, 2nd part of 12, Part of 10, accidentally skipped 5 so did that last, chose to not do #11, took that as our 1 freebie (couldn't figure it out!)
Clues (in the order they appeared on our sheet):
1) Get ready for the Chipotle Challenge! Make your way to Lykes Gaslights Park and find the Chipotle staff. One teammate must successfully throw a bean bag into the hole in the boards provided. The teammate throwing the bean bag must be blindfolded while another teammate verbally guides them. Once completed, you must receive a stamp on this clue sheet from the Chipolte staff to receive credit for this clue.
*This was downtown, easy enough to find location online. Park on the corner of Madison and Tampa. Tyler was the one who was blindfolded and it took maybe 10 throws to sink the beanbag. Didn't need a pic for this one, just the stamp on our sheet as proof.2) Make your way to 901 West Platt Street and find the animal handlers on the outdoor patio. Take a picture of all teammates holding ONE of the creatures waiting for you.
*This was our second stop after crossing over from downtown into the Hyde Park area. We got to hold the Iguana! It was easy to find because the address was given3) This clue will require two steps!
First, make your way to King Corona's Cigars Cafe and Bar and solve the puzzle hanging in the window. Once solved, fill in the circled word from the puzzle in the boxes on this clue sheet below.
Second, take a picture of all teammates in front of the wooden Native American statue in the window at King Corona's. To receive credit for this clue, you must have BOTH the word and the puzzle written on this clue sheet AND a picture of all teammates in front of the wooden statue.
*This was just two blocks down from the bar where we started. Hit this up after we did clue number 7. We didn't write down all the pieces of the puzzle that we solved, but they were questions like: What famous wrestler calls Tampa home (Hulk Hogan), 2003 Super Bowl Champs (Buccaneers), Florida lake over 700 square miles (Okeechobee). All the answers led us to answer of PIRATES, in our little fill in blank thing. Then we took a picture in front of the wooden Indian in the window.4) Unscramble the letters below to find the location of this clue, located in downtown Tampa. Take a picture of all teammates standing next to this sculpture.
REHTA YENRGE
*This one was tough. I first unscrambled this as Heart Energy and we were unable to find anything under that name online. Luckily our internet phone a friend, Bill figured out it also could be Earth Energy. Once we looked that up, we were able to find that it was on the corner of Tampa and Twiggs, downtown.5) Let's ride! Make your way to City Bike Tampa and complete the bike challenge waiting for you. Once completed, you must receive a business card from the staff as proof of completion.
*We somehow missed hitting up this one, located near the corner of Cass & Tampa downtown, on the way out. So, we did this one last on the way back to the bar. It was a simple task, each teammate had to ride a bike around a set of cones, maybe a 25 ft distance. Then we were given a business card as proof, no picture needed.6) Make your way to the field at Hyde Park Art Studio and complete the soccer challenge. Once completed you must receive a Tampa Bay Club Sport magnet from the staff as proof of completion.
*This physical challenge was having to make either one goal with the soccer ball while not hitting any of the inflatable refs placed in the goal, or make 3 goals, hitting as many refs as needed. Tyler took the shots and made 3 goals in a row, got our magnet and moved on. No picture here either.7) Take a picture of all teammates posing with the statue pictured to the right.
*This was our toughest clue. Not being from Tampa we had no idea where this was. We called our local friends and sent them a picture via cell phone, no luck. We ended up asking a woman at the bar and she said she thought it might be just up the road in Ybor. When we looked up Ybor statue we found it (but never came up under Tampa Statue). It's the Ybor Immigrant Statue and is located on the North Side of Centennial Park, 9th Ave & 18th St.8) Hang ten! Make your way to the Hyde Park Village fountain to learn how to ride the waves. Once completed, take a picture of all teammates striking a wacky pose on a surfboard.
*Once we got to Hyde Park Village the fountain is easy enough to find, lots of other teams being there also helps! Tyler had to take a "surf lesson" which was pretty short and then we had our picture taken on the board.9)Make your way to the Smoothie King on Swann Street where you will find a delicious "boost" waiting for you. Take a picture of one teammate pouring the smoothie into another teammate's mouth with a Smoothie King sign clearly visible in the picture.
*This was easy enough since we were given the street name, just looked it up online. Went in got our mini smoothie and I fed it to Tyler in front of a cooler with a Smoothie King logo on top.10) Tic-Tac-Toe! This clue will require three separate pictures. You team must complete 3 of the nine challenges listed in the tic-tac-toe squares to the right. The three challenges you complete must be in "tic-tac-toe" order - either 3 boxes in a vertical column, 3 boxes in a horizontal row, OR 3 boxes on a diagonal. NOTE: All required items in the pictures must be clearly visible. "Strangers" must be non-GUR participants.
*This clue had a grid of 9 tasks. We ended up doing 4, changed our tic-tac-toe direction as we went. The three tasks which made up our tic-tac-toe were
1)Return to the finish with a real job application - we went into a couple places along our route, but ended up finally getting one at a Subway downtown.
2)Take a picture of at least one teammate shaking a dog's paw - This was actually the first picture we took. We were still in the bar and there was a guy there with two puppies. 
3)Take a picture of all teammates with a real boat in the background. (Toys and pictures of boats will not be accepted) - We first had our picture taken when we were crossing into Hyde Park area, with a crew boat in the background. On our way back from Hyde Park into Tampa we decided to have our picture taken again in front of a more obvious boat, just in case.
The task we completed that we didn't end up using in our tic-tac-toe was - Take a picture of all teammates posing with a stranger standing on a skateboard. We came across these two guys on our way into downtown and had our picture taken with them. We realized later that they weren't actually standing on their boards. Oops.
11) Riddle: Ms. Shield is odd. She likes
balloons but doesn't like parties. She likes
books but doesn't like reading. She likes
weeds but doesn't like flowers. She likes
swimming but doesn't like water. She likes
letters but doesn't like words. She likes
noodles but doesn't like pasta sauce. She likes
apples but doesn't like plums. She likes
coffee but doesn't like tea.
According to the pattern in the riddle above, take a picture of all teammates in front of a street sign that Ms. Shield would LIKE. The street sign must be clearly visible and easy to read in the picture.
*You are allowed to skip 1 clue, this is the one we chose to skip. We had no idea. Turns out it was painfully obvious. Ms. Shield likes things with repeat letters. But we didn't find that out till we finished. Apparently all the other teams had trouble too, when we arrived at the check in area after finishing the woman told us that 6 teams had received penalties for not figuring out the clue properly. Glad we skipped it!12) This clue requires three steps
First, purchase one of the following options (a, b, OR c). All items should be new and unused
a) A reusable plastic water bottle
b) A reusable hot beverage tumbler
c) A golf-type, small sports towel
Second, bring your item to the lobby of 1510 West Swann Ave and donate them to the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD). This non-profit organization provides information and consultation to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and related disabilities.
Third, you must receive a flyer from the CARD staff as proof of donation.
*We ended op stopping at Publix on our way into Hyde Park from downtown. We asked the staff there and they said they were all out of water bottles, but then a kid working there found us one. Sweet! We put it in the backpack and planned on going to donate it when we got closer to Hyde Park Village. We had difficulty finding it, as we were looking for the actual Center for Autism. We finally found the location, it ended up being our last stop before heading back towards downtown. They were accepting donations inside Lifestyle Fitness in Hyde Park Village... tricky!_____
After we completed all our clues we started running back to the bar in Ybor from downtown. Tyler went over all the clues to make sure we had everything and asked me a couple times if we had a magnet from the Soccer Challenge. I knew I was handed something upon completing the task, but then started doubting myself. We stopped and looked through our items, and I couldn't find the magnet. I got pretty upset that I hadn't checked earlier. But, Tyler was the voice of reason and reminded me that maybe we did have what we needed and at this point it was worth just heading back and just taking the 30 min penalty, rather than trying to go and get a magnet.
Funny, although not too funny at the time, thing is our backpack kept coming open as we were running and random items would fall out. This was not good, as Tyler's wallet fell out several times. But, as I was in my magnet despair the backpack opened again, and out fell the magnet! Perfect! We ran as fast as we could and passed at least 5 teams as we got closer to the finish.
Did I mention our biggest advantage was our running ability!?
Such a fun time, the post race hangout outside at Gaspar's Grotto was fabulous. It was a beautiful day. Can't wait to write another entry in November after Vegas!!
The week leading up to this I spent down in Jupiter helping my cousin with her 3 month old twins, because her husband was out of town for the week. My sleep schedule was pretty erratic but managed to keep up with my scheduled mid-week runs, which actually surprised me.
Given the intense emotional week I had before it I had low expectations of my performance, but I ended up doing better than expected with a 46:53 time which got me 1st place in my age group! Pretty fun I must say!
